NAACP's absence leaves a void

The Orange branch of the NAACP has raised its profile recently with the picketing of the Orlando Magic, opposing school closings and reviving the biracial committee of the Orange County School Board.

But within the community, the civil-rights group has been without a presence for several months. The place where the branch office trailer once stood is a sandy bare spot on the corner of Columbia Street and Ivey Lane. The state branch office on Church Street has been closed since March.

"People don't know where to go," said former branch president Derrick Wallace. "They don't know where to send their requests for assistance. They don't know how to get ahold of anyone. They're just lost."

Since its inception in 1909, the NAACP has been a visible institution in the black community, said UCF history professor Vibert White. Local NAACP offices were the community centers of the civil-rights movement.

"You could always find the NAACP during the worst times because it served as the bulwark and salvation for the oppressed," said White, whose father was an NAACP branch president in Delaware. "It is quite contrary to the tradition of the organization that there is not a presence."

Today, a sign on the front window of the empty Florida State Conference of NAACP branches on Church Street instructs anyone who wants to file a complaint to call the local Orange County branch, but callers find the voice mailbox is full and not taking messages.

The local branch has been without an office for more than a year, ever since Wallace removed the trailer in a dispute with current president the Rev. Randolph Bracy Jr.

David Rucker, a friend of Wallace's, was elected president but removed and replaced by Bracy.

Without an office, the local branch was referring calls to the state branch office. That ended when the poor economy forced the Florida NAACP to cut costs by closing the office and laying off executive director Beverlye C. Neal.

"As long as the state office was there, it wasn't a problem," Neal said. "When the office closed, it created a void."

In recent months, the executive committee of the Orange branch approved renting office space in a two-story office building at 750 S. Orange Blossom Trail. The building, which backs up to Jones High School, includes employment agencies, training programs, youth services, churches, tax offices, lawyers and bail bondsmen.

But nothing has happened since the board approved renting the 500-square-foot office for $400 a month.

Bracy said he is close to finalizing a deal: "It is in the works, and negotiations are under way," he said. "We should have something in the next couple of days."

But the owner of the building, Jim Macon, said there have not been any negotiations with the NAACP.

"I haven't talked to Rev. Bracy," Macon said.

In the meantime, Bracy said the Orange branch of the NAACP exists largely in the trunk of his car. He said the all-volunteer office is short-staffed, resulting in the phone-mail box that isn't accepting messages.

"It takes an inordinate amount of time in handling the volume of complaints when you are short-handed," he said.

Longtime members of the NAACP said this is the first time since the 1960s there has not been a local office where people could go with their problems.

"There is no official location, and that's sad," said Tim Adams, a member of the executive committee. "It is crucial that we have one."